Sydney, June 11, 2026, 07:04 AEST
- Woolworths Group finished Wednesday at A$37.63, gaining 3.15%. The stock ended Tuesday’s session at A$36.48.
- Woolworths set off a new round of activity with its plan to offshore hundreds of corporate jobs, telling staff consultations would start Wednesday.
- Staples stocks rallied, with Coles up 4.95%. The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index added 3.87%.
Woolworths Group Ltd (WOW) shares rose Wednesday, climbing 3.15% to close at A$37.63, up A$1.15 after ending the previous session at A$36.48. Investors came back to the grocer after management signaled more cost cuts and money moved into supermarket stocks. The stock isn’t just regaining lost ground from last year’s earnings miss. Now, the market is watching to see if WOW can keep margins up as customers stay price-sensitive.
Woolworths’ latest update wasn’t about sales or dividends, but about cutting corporate jobs. The retailer plans to offshore hundreds of roles, the ABC said, with staff consultations starting Wednesday. People, IT, and Finance teams look set to be in scope, though Woolworths hasn’t confirmed how many jobs go.
Shareholders see the message: office spending cuts can make room for price drops and still protect profit. ABC said chief executive Amanda Bardwell already shared a target of A$400 million in cuts to “above-store support office costs.” On the market side, that shifts the focus from offices to margins. ABC News
Woolworths shares started moving before the close. The stock was up 64 cents, or 1.75%, to A$37.12 by midday Wednesday after offshoring plans surfaced, ABC reported. At the company’s 4:11pm AEST share-price update, Woolworths’ investor page showed WOW at A$37.63, hitting the high of the day right at the close.
ASX 200 rose 0.6% on Wednesday to 8,653 points, with consumer non-cyclicals up 3.6% for the session. That group, which takes in staples sellers like Coles and Woolworths, was the lead sector. “Consumer staples such as Coles and Woolworths gained as investors sought the relative safety of businesses with resilient demand,” Marc Jocum, senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs, told ABC. ABC News
Supermarkets showed defensive buying again. Coles ended up 4.95% at A$23.73. Endeavour Group added 5.39%. This move suggested investors were going after more than just Woolworths stories. The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index climbed 3.87% to 12,657.00, data from Kalkine showed. Consumer staples led the day’s sectors.
Woolworths is back on watch after its latest numbers showed stronger sales. The company reported group sales of A$18.095 billion for the 13 weeks ended April 5, according to its third-quarter update on April 30. That’s a gain of 4.5% from the year before. Sales in Australian Food, Woolworths’ main unit, rose 5.9% to A$13.828 billion. Group eCommerce sales hit A$2.7 billion, jumping 20.2%.
The update also points to lingering nerves among investors. Woolworths said Australian Food sales got a lift from stronger item growth, the washout of last year’s industrial action, and a bit of pantry loading by shoppers late in the quarter. So, not all of the sales growth looks like it will stick around for good.
Margin pressure is the concern. EBIT, or earnings before interest and tax, is what investors look at to measure operating performance before financing and taxes. Woolworths said it still sees reported F26 Australian Food EBIT growing in the mid- to high-single digits, but not at the top end. The company blamed direct fuel exposure in Q4 and more spending to help customers deal with inflation.
Woolworths faces execution and reputational risk with its offshoring push. The move to cut corporate roles could help its cost base, but disruption, slower processes or customer service issues could offset those gains. Woolworths also warned higher fuel prices and wider fallout from the Middle East conflict might push inflation higher during the year. New Zealand Food is dealing with slower growth in the market and tough competition.
Woolworths’ sharp share move Wednesday isn’t the next real test. The company says it will post F26 full-year numbers to the ASX on August 26. Back in April it told investors more detail would come then on how the Middle East conflict hits its business, directly and indirectly. The focus will be on whether office savings, fuel costs and price bets actually move margins, or just cancel out.
